Godless Shepherd
by Hattiakourri
Summary: After the Dragon whisks Vegeta to Earth, he muses on the summation of what he is... and if he can exist in the same plane as peace. A slightly different writing style for this one.


Disclaimer: Don't own it.

I'd like to have a moment like this sometime in my life… but that's unlikely to happen.

Is this story poignant? Probably not. But it was soothing to write, so I enjoyed it just the same.

Enjoy.

~*~ Hattiakourri ~*~

**Godless Shepherd**

He found it quite funny, that he should sit here today in this sylvan glade; a grotty fiend lounging in the bosom of peace-- in the heart of tranquility.

_He, a monster._

The Prince of Saiyans awoke in the heart of this uncanny peace, his head framed by lilac verbena, rain lilies, and lush green grass. He could smell the scent of moss, fragrant rain, and the soft perfume of flowers, washed by morning mist.

The self-proclaimed _monster _sat in this dell, whisked from death, across the galaxy to this very spot by a wish from the Dragon. He felt extremely out of place in the midst of such disturbing, pristine perfectness…

His hands, his very soul, was sopping wet with crimson blood, his eyes glowed with the relish of death, his soul, his teeth, his mind, all craved the taste of freshly spilt blood, thick and fresh with life—

Here, in this garden of peace, this fresh, forested meadow, he was little more than an anomaly. The sun gleamed golden and softly warm; the wind was meek and gentle, caressing his face like almost like a lover's touch.

He'd never felt a touch so pure, so innocent, so earnest… It made a peculiar sensation stir in his chest, bringing to life a part of him that he'd always thought dead…

He had only known a moment _like_ this once before in his life—the planet Auriga*, where he looked upon its beauty, knowing that he would sow the seeds of its death. The luster of the planet, dulled by the curse of knowing its fate.

The fluttering sensation, deadened when he scrubbed it clean with his hands.

He, a planet-killer.

He, a slaughterer.

He, the personification of death, sitting here, today.

He started as an oriole landed near him, bold, bright orange, and fearless. It twittered its song softly near his ear. _How brave this lowly creature is, to sing to the demon before its maw, praying not to get eaten…_

How had he come to be here?

_He had been resurrected from death. That's how he came to be here._

Was this Heaven? Or was this Hell?

…

He felt the essence of the Earth move about him, feeling the wilderness blossom in his blood, rearing its head for the first time in years.

He felt…alive. Living, finally, for the first time in years.

_Maybe this wasn't Heaven or Hell._

_Maybe this was something different._

Looking about him, he noticed that he was forming an audience. An unlikely semblance of animals had approached him—a scruffy woodland fox, a pair of statuesque white-tailed deer, and a pair of delicate red cardinals. All of them, simply existing without argument, coexisting in a strange lull of natural order. A symphony of the thousand voices of the wild, soared into the air all around them, filling his bruised spirit to the brim with pulsing life as the essence of the wilderness sunk into his pores and tried to become part of him, to bury itself deep in his soul and sprout a million tendrils of emotion-- to flood him with arcane peace. But anxiety and serenity were like oil and water; it was impossible for them to occupy the same space…

But a single seedling of calm seemed to have found its way into his brain, and despite his attempts to root it out and pry it free, he had the strange feeling that this moment would cling to his memories for the rest of his life.

_How strange._

Here he was, the wicked Prince of Saiyans, soaked in the blood of trillions, sitting here in the heart of peace, surrounded by the weak, helpless, and meek creatures that inhabited the Earth.

At first, he had quested to conquer them.

Now, he seemed to be trapped amongst them, a sleeping fiend that would forever be with them, near them. Ensnared in their pulsing, living being until his own end…

_Could he stay here, be part of this, and still exist?_

…

_Would it still be him?_

_God forbid…could he willingly stay?_

As he felt the Earth breathe around him and its pristine, shimmering beauty blind his eyes with its deceptive perfection, he felt himself suddenly find a place in the puzzle of life.

_He supposed that he could give it a try._

*fin.*

Good to finally get that finished. That's sat on my HD for a year, mostly finished—but it was missing something. I wanted to give it a chance to shine.

* In reference to another fiction I'm working on—a chance to show a little violence. If you're interested, it will probably be in the works in December.

See you guys around.

~*~Hats~*~


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